Japan Press Weekly

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2014 November 5 - 11 [POLITICS]

JCP Kokuta protests forcible start of debate on labor bill

Japanese Communist Party’s Diet policy chief Kokuta Keiji on November 5 criticized the Lower House labor committee chairperson for having exercised his authority earlier on the day to enter into discussions on a government-proposed bill to adversely revise the Worker Dispatch Law.

At a press conference held in the Diet building, Kokuta said, “It deserves criticism and is unacceptable” to open the first session on such an important bill under his own authority.

The committee debate was initially set for October 31, but it was postponed because one of the ruling parties, Komei, proposed an amendment to the bill just before the start of committee deliberations. This unprecedented situation confused the ruling partner, the Liberal Democratic Party. Some of the LDP representatives even said the Komei action is inappropriate as a governing party. At the beginning of this week, the ruling bloc decided to withdraw the draft amendment.

The Komei amendment called for taking into account the principle of the Worker Dispatch Law limiting the use of temporary workers only to temporary jobs.

He said, “Even one of the ruling parties admitted to the defect of the government-proposed bill, and I demand that the bill be scrapped.”